Thursday, May 26, 2011

What is Thomas Perry reading?

Last Sunday I was on a panel at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books with Don Winslow. I hadn't seen him since another event last November, and I remembered how much I liked his work, from Cool Breeze on the Underground to The Power of the Dog.

I'm pretty busy much of the time, and while I was at the festival I remembered I hadn't gotten around to reading Savages. So I got him to sign a copy for me, and read it on the airplane the past two days on a short trip to San Francisco. I thought it was very, very good (no criticisms), and I was...[read on]

"A book-length war of nerves that accentuates the best of Mr. Perry’s gift for using pure logic and gamesmanship to generate breathless nonstop suspense..."The Informant" is a marvel of tight, thoughtful construction."
––Janet Maslin, New York Times

"I've said elsewhere that Thomas Perry's novels -- the best ones -- are a master class in thriller writing. "The Informant" should be the newest addition to that syllabus, read for devouring first, and analysis thereafter."
––Sarah Weinman, Los Angeles Times

"Perry’s immaculate style — clean, polished, uncluttered by messy emotions — suits the Butcher’s Boy, who executes his kills with the same cool, dispassionate skill. But this time there’s something almost human about his awareness of the limitations imposed by his aging body. Luckily, one of the lessons he learned from Eddie is that ‘killing was mostly a mental business. It required thinking clearly, not quickly.’ And his mind is still sharp enough to devise the kind of ingenious logistical traps a young computer gamer could only dream of."
––Marilyn Stasio, New York Times

“...compelling, rapid-fire plot... an indictment of self-serving officialdom, and the old soul-shattering moral dilemma: what is truth?”
––Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“No one makes killing bad guys more fun, no one is smarter at blending research and invention, and no one offers a higher body count of ingenious hits. Highly recommended for fans of crime fiction.”
––Library Journal (starred review)

“...Beneath the sky-high body count, the twisty plot is powered by Perry’s relentless focus on the question of where the next threat is coming from and how to survive it.”
--Kirkus (starred review)